Miep Gies: Moving to Holland

Miep Gies is born with the name Hermine Santrouschitz in 1909 in Vienna, Austria. An Austrian Christian, she has to leave her family for economic reasons. She is sent to Leiden, Holland, as part of a relief program to help malnourished children. She lives there with a "host family," whom she grows to love very much. They give her the name Miep, feeling Hermine is too formal. In 1922, she moves with her adopted family to Amsterdam.

In 1933, Miep hears about an opening for a job as an office assistant for Otto Frank, a gentleman who has just moved to Amsterdam. Miep takes the job and becomes good friends with Otto, his wife Edith, and their daughters, Margot and Anne.

Leaving her family and her country could not have been easy for young Miep. Find out what it was like by reading an interview with Miep.

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